Living For A Dream
by PisceanPal23
Summary: Sara is devastated when someone she’s close to is killed. However, she’s reunited with him in her dreams. Except something’s not right. She’s finding it harder to leave her dreams, and figuring out his riddles is the key to solving her problems.
1. Living Nightmare

**I'm back, and sorry to say not for long! I had to post it, as I felt I had been neglecting it. I had an idea drought for a while. and now my mind is overflowing with ideas, this being the forerunner. So, here it is, chapter 1 of a new story courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood Piscean Pal...I hope you enjoy, and wish me luck...my first ever trip on a plane AND out of province begins tomorrow! Hope you enjoy! And sorry for the errors...I'm a bit rushed! More next week!

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**CHAPTER 1: LIVING NIGHTMARE**

Las Vegas at night was a wonder to behold. From a height, one could truly see the glittering neon of blinking signs like the sparkle of early morning dew on the lawn, and catch the bustle of all its inhabitants as they visited the 'in' spots. It was party central. Sin City. Of course there was gambling, and drugs, and gangs, and prostitutes, but hey, what large city doesn't? However, only a few people truly saw what really happened in Las Vegas. The robberies, the thefts, the deceit, the deaths, are usually all hidden from the everyday person's minds, to ensure their happiness, so thought Sara Sidle as she looked out over the lawn of her crime scene.

This was what her life consisted of, painful truths of the underground. She was a Crime Scene Investigator. It was her job to figure out what happened in the most gruesome circumstances, and to bring the perpetrator to justice using science. Sara lived for justice, not so much for herself. She would admit it, that she never had much to live for aside from her job and her scarce few friends.

She sighed as she swept over the scene. In the black of night, only the red and blue lights flashed from atop their police vehicles, and their accompanying sirens shattered any peace the night once had for the neighbourhood. That, and the hushed whispers of the resident gossipers who tried to find out what they could so they had something to talk about the next day. It disgusted Sara, but such was to be expected.

She headed in to the house, her collection kit in hand, and flicked on her small flashlight. Its bright white light illuminated the dingy room, and she walked lightly in to the room that adjoined from the right. Upon entering, she smiled as she saw one of her afore-mentioned friends, and she had to say, they were the best of her acquaintances. One of them turned towards her from where he was looking over a dead body, and smiled at her, the skin about his eyes and mouth wrinkling in such a warm way as to always make her feel happy. "Hey Sara."

"Hey Nick." She said, entering further into the room to also glance upon the corpse whom she was investigating. For anyone else, the dead body may have caused a nauseous upheaval in the stomach, but the men and women of the Crime Lab, and most of the Police Department, were used to the horrors that the job brought. They were trained to be desensitized, and the better for them, Sara supposed, as she looked upon the slender body of a woman who was obviously brutally thrown about. That just boiled her blood. "What do we have tonight?"

"Well, as you can see," Nick gestured to the woman's body which David Phillips, the coroner, was also bent over trying to do a preliminary examination of her, "she was definitely pushed about a bit. And, as I'm sure Super Dave will soon inform you, she probably died of blunt force trauma to the back of the skull. Isn't that right, David?"

Sara smirked at his egotistical confidence, and it grew at David's words. "Nope."

Nick's face went from cocky to one of vast surprise. "No? What do you mean no?"

"I mean no, nuh-uh, nada, no way no how. This girl had the stuffing knocked out of her, but she was stuck with a bullet, and that's what got her in the end."

"Tsk tsk, Nicky," Teased Sara, "You're losing your touch."

"I don't understand…" Nick said incredulously, "I was sure…where is the bullet hole too?"

David sighed, yet complied, and he went further down the torso of the body until he came to the top of her thighs. He lifted the top of her dress, ripped and frayed at its edges, and signed for them to take a look. Sara and Nick looked at each other, both now in their serious work modes, and they both ventured a peek, and were disturbed at the sight. From the torn skin, the bloody remains and the burn marks, it was obvious where the bullet, and gun, and entered. "The body has no exit wounds, so I'm wagering a guess we'll extract the bullet from the abdominal cavity when Doc Robbins and I perform the autopsy."

"Well, no doubt in my mind," Nick said with a sober voice, "that this was the work of someone she was close to."

"If they were close, you think they would have ripped her insides to shreds with a bullet placed _there?_" Sara strained the last word, not able to say it with ease. "Obviously it was the husband, or boyfriend, tired of just knocking her about." Nick nodded, afraid Sara's temper would flare up and cloud her judgement, as it would tend to do sometimes. Sara looked at the body again. She was almost perfect, a white face of smooth porcelain, the lacquer tainted by death and glazed eyes, and blood. "Are you good with handling the body, and the downstairs?" Nick nodded again. "Well, then I guess I'll go upstairs."

"Okay, I'm sure Greg would appreciate the help." Nick said as he turned again towards the body with David. Sara glanced back at Nick

"Greg's here too?"

"Yup."

Sara nodded slowly, and as Nick never turned his head to answer her question, she in turn started to walk towards the small stairwell that was found in a separate room from where they were. As she looked up into the nothingness of the incline, she got chills. Blood, no doubt from the victim, was spattered about the walls, which she could only assume used to be of a purer white. She looked down, and up, careful to watch her step, and fortuitously for her she caught sight of the tiny yellow markers. She looked intently, and caught sight of the tiny droplets of blood that Greg had caught and she was sure she would have missed. She gave a proud grin.

Greg, though one of her best friends, was once only her student. As he made the transfer from brilliant and quick-witted DNA tech to serious, still quick-witted CSI level 1, she was there to guide him, as Grissom could not do. She was his mentor, and now she had more respect for him than any could ever guess. Yet he was deserving of much more than that, she knew. He was the reason why she kept trying, kept living. She wasn't going to get into the sappy romance, but it was his charm and humour that kept her alive amidst all the malevolence and grotesqueness of what was her everyday life. And the same for Greg, his only endeavour was to make sure his friends always knew what it was like to live.

She reached the landing, and was met with still more darkness. Little to no light shone through the house, and she had to once again turn on her flashlight. White light pierced the gloom of the second floor of the house, revealing a corridor and three doors, and yet more blood that was spattered on the walls like primitive finger painting. Two of the doors remained closed, and she saw a light from the third, closer door. Sara inhaled sharply before entering, the sharp scent of the blood finally registering on her olfactory system; the smell of a sickly metallic, the iron of the victim's haemoglobin, as if you had just held on to the change from your everyday coffee for just a little too long.

"Hello?" She heard his familiar voice echo through the house that, yet only devoid of life for a few hours, seemed very lonely. "Is that you Nick?"

Sara poked her head about the door to look at his face. She could only make out a silhouette from the dim glow of the flashlight that he was working with, but she could see he was slightly on edge. Maybe it wasn't just her. "Sorry to disappoint you, Greggo. It's only me."

Even in the sorry excuse for light, she could see a great grin spread across his face, a great pleasure for many, as whoever gazed upon it could not help but smile. It worked wonders on Sara, as she felt the muscles in her face contorting in a smile. "You could never disappoint me with your company, you know."

"And you never fail to be an impossible flirt." She returned with equal friendly sauciness. He grinned, and looked up at her with impossibly adorable puppy eyes that could probably score him any girl he chose, and his curly light brown hair certainly didn't chase the ladies away. And yet, he seemed to only have eyes for her, which was highly flattering to her, and she admitted she took advantage of it too many times, but she liked the attention she never got growing up a science nerd.

The ease of playful banter aside, she walked up to his side and asked what she should do.

"I guess you could help me process the rest of upstairs. I still have one room to do, so you can go ahead and do your thing there."

"Yeah, I will." She started to go, but Greg called her back. "What it is, Greg?"

"Sara…take a look at this, will you?"

His invitation intrigued her, and she obligingly walked up to see to what he was referring. He pointed, and she followed the beam to a place under an old fashioned radiator that reflected the light. "Hmm," Sara thought out loud, "looks like a piece of metal, or something made of metal."

"Yeah." He agreed, and started to slink over on his toes while still bent down towards the radiator. With a carefully gloved hand, he reached in and extracted the object from under the old heat source, and with no great enthusiasm, said, "It's just a gun."

Sara looked at him funnily. "Just a gun? You feeling all right there, Greggo? Gun's are always awesome to find at a crime scene."

"Not when the victim wasn't shot." Greg argued.

"She was shot."

Greg looked at her, and to the gun and back, with much more interest. "Really? Well this makes my finding a little more worth our time, don't you think?" And then added, "Nick said she wasn't shot."

"Since when do you trust Nick on means of death? He isn't a coroner. And she was definitely shot." Sara felt the chills invade her spine once more. "Right up through her body."

At once Greg realized what she meant, and she could see something of a wave of unpleasantness cross his countenance. "Ouch. What a way to get shot. Definitely a murder of intimacy. Brutal husband or male in the life?"

"I bet a month's salary that it was." Sara said dolefully.

"Don't do that Sara," Greg said, "You need that money for food, you eat too little as it is, with your crazy vegetarian ways."

Sara laughed as she headed out the door once more. "You goof." She humorously chided him. "Bag the gun, and get on with the room, and maybe we can catch breakfast with Nick."

"_Or just us."_ He mumbled lightly. He was sure Sara had heard, and he was prepared to fake something to make it seem a joke, but she just walked on, seemingly oblivious to his wish, and he continued to search the room.

However, Sara had indeed heard his hopeful whispers, and her heart went out to him, and herself. She had known Greg had a huge crush on her since her first year at Las Vegas, but she hadn't been ready for any kind of a relationship. And then when the whole Hank debacle started, while Greg had been evidently jealous and envious, and had even resorted to petty comments, he had been nothing but sincere to her, and cared for her when he let her down. And everyone knew about her almost stalker obsession over the Graveyard shift supervisor, Gil Grissom.

And even through all of this, Greg was still her friend until the end, and still maintained the hope of one day even just winning a date with her. Shoot, she was willing to bet he'd settle for a half date. Maybe she was overrating herself. At any rate, she enjoyed Greg's humour, and he made her feel better everyday she was unhappy. And yet, she hadn't even opened her eyes to the possibility of 'them' yet. That was what she would call, 'cold'. Maybe she would go out with him, just this once, after shift today.

Probably not.

She entered the room that Greg had yet to make his way to, a room that appeared to be a large bedroom, and started processing. Her own attention to detail was not retarded in any way by her thoughts, and she very quickly had a large assembly of evidence to bring back to the lab and have processed by the assortment of techs there. She slowly and methodically worked her way through the room until she came to the far side of the bed, where she was slightly surprised to find a massive pool of blood. This, she naturally assumed, was where the shooting occurred. She inched her way carefully to it, and took many photographs of it. Then from out of her kit she took out her ALS, and started sweeping it's blue radiance across the dark carpet. And like Hansel and Gretel and their trail of breadcrumbs, she followed the miniscule drops that had since faded from her view right towards the bathroom.

"Sara." She turned her head to see Greg standing at the door, hit kit packed and in his hand, with an armful of evidence in the other. "Are you ready? I have the other…"

Sara silenced him with a quick finger to her lips, and gestured towards the bathroom. Greg looked, and understanding, took out his flashlight, ready to assist her if need be. It was only a precaution; surely the police had cleared the room as they were supposed to?

Sara motioned with her fingers her countdown…3…2…1…and she flipped into the room, her vision greatly improved with the help of Greg's flashlight. However, it wasn't necessary, as nothing remained in the bathroom except for a sink, toilet, shower and a dirty magazine. Sara let her shoulders drop. "It's okay, Greg, I don't see anything."

She saw Greg's shoulders drop also without the suspense hanging over them. "You ready to go?" He tried asking her once again.

Sara snapped a few more pictures of the blood trail, and nodded. "Yes, I am. Let's get back to the lab."

Greg allowed a small smile to grace his features, and started walking in front of her as she retrieved her evidence. Suddenly, a soft thump was heard. Sara felt the chills crawl up and down her spine, her hair stood on end, and she was compelled to look behind her until Greg's scared voice caused her to jump a hundred feet. "Sara, look out!"

Sara jumped up and around at the warning, and saw a man pointing a gun in her face. He uttered no words; cocking the gun was enough of a speech to let Sara know what was about to happen. He advanced, and as Sara's ears were assaulted with a deadly blast, she saw in a split second Greg jump out in front of her. She felt a dull pain, and a few seconds later she saw Greg, bleeding and unconscious, on the floor. She didn't know what happened next, but the shooter suddenly dropped to the ground, by her gun or someone else's. But it didn't matter, none of it mattered as she saw Greg injured in front of her. All her training of desensitizing went out the window, and at the sight of her friend she fainted dead away.

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**Like I mentioned a trillion times before, I hope you enjoy! Good luck with future eneavors everyone;) Will hopefully update as soon as I get home (though I have a great concert on the 28th...busy June for me:) Til next time!**


	2. Truth And Confusion

**I'm bad bad BAD BAD BAD!!!! I'm so sorry for all those people who are reading this, really and truly I am! I've had a busy last few weeks, between a trip to the University of Waterloo for a week and a giant rock concert (for all those wondering, if the following bands are going to concert near you, check 'em out, cause they're wicked: Default, State Of Shock, Hedley, Staind, and the best of the night, NICKELBACK!!! There was another one, and they were pretty good, but pretty lewd:S). Anyways, thats about it. Updates should come a bit closer and regularly now...nothing big is coming up, so enjoy everyone!

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**CHAPTER 2: TRUTH AND CONFUSION**

"Sara?"

She heard a voice call her name. Oh, that voice! It was so familiar to her, yet she could not muster up the strength to even open her eyes. Her eyelids were heavy, she felt drugged; a numb sensation coursed through her body and through her heart, and she could not move, or she could not tell if she had moved or not.

"Sara, wake up…please…"

Greg? Was it Greg?

"Please, Sara, wake up for me."

"Mmm…Greg?" She said, her voice cracking with dryness and fatigue. "Greg? Is that you?"

"Sara?" She could tell his voice changed with relief. "Yes, it's me…are you okay Sar?"

She groaned, and she used all of her energy to move. She felt his hands behind her, helping her to sit, holding her and warming her. Where he touched her, warmth and feeling came back to her aching limbs, and soon enough she had the power to open her eyes. She looked about: They were in a field.

"What the hell?" Sara asked to no one in particular. "How'd we get here?" She looked up, and saw those warm brown eyes stare back at her. Concern was etched in the lines in his face, and she could feel his arm stroking her back delicately, the thumb of the other gliding down the back of her hand. She felt so safe in those arms.

"Sara, don't you remember?" Sara shook her head in the negative. "We were attacked at the crime scene. That man, he had a gun."

Sara started. "Oh, Greg!" She jumped up, and stared at him. The question of why they were in a field in the middle of nowheer was lost on her mind with her new concerns. "You were shot, and then the other man dropped dead! You were shot, are you okay?"

Greg gave her a sad smile. "I'll be okay, but you're not."

Sara stared at him incredulously. She looked at herself all over. Not a scratch was on her. No blood was to be found on her pants or her shirt. "What are you talking about? I'm fine!" She looked at him as he sat there. The sunlight was bright, and the rays landed upon them, illuminating everything. The land was flat, and seemed to stretch to the ends of the Earth. The grasses were tall, and tickled her legs, and cherry trees were everywhere. The blossom petals fell all around them, as if it were lightly snowing. It was beautiful there, but it went almost unnoticed by Sara, who was beyond confused. She looked at Greg, who was almost hidden among the grass. He sat as if he were a newborn foal, like he hadn't the ability to rise. He was gaunt, pale, and he still looked worried.

"No Sara, you're not alright. I'm not alright either…"

"What do you mean? You look…" She gasped and the words she had been about to say fell out of her mouth and to the dirt below her. She saw blood starting to soak his shirt, from his lower abdomen. She suddenly felt something cool on her stomach, and she looked down and saw the blood soak through her shirt as well. She looked at Greg.

"Bye Sara…"

"No!" She screamed, and started to run towards him, but fell as the pain inside her started to burn inside her like hot lava spewed forth from an angry volcano. It stunned her, the pain…it had come so fast and unexpected. Still, she reached for his hand, "don't leave me Greg!"

"I'll be back Sara…stay safe for me, okay?" He said, as his eyes closed and he seemed to fade from right in front of her.

"No, no, come back!" She cried after him. "Don't leave me alone!" She shut her eyes and she felt the tears leak from the corners of her eyes. When she opened them again, everything had faded from her sight, and all she saw was white. She was floating in white nothingness, like she was trapped between clouds twelve thousand feet in the air. She was scared, and so confused…what was happening? Where was Greg? She closed her eyes again, with her head near exploding, and tried to forget it all.

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When Sara awoke again, nothing was how she last saw it. No longer was she in a field of grasses and cherry blossoms. A smell of disinfectant was all about her now. She could hear people near her, talking about things that seemed foreign to her. She never before felt so lethargic, but something told her to open her eyes, and so with all her strength, she forced her eyelids to lift. She saw a hospital room, and faces all about her came in to focus. She saw one of them turn towards her. 

"She's awake! Everyone, Sara's awake!"

And all at once she was assaulted with people fussing all over her.

"Sara! How are you feeling?"

"Do you want some water?"

"Let me fluff your pillows!"

"Guys!" Sara said through the swarm. "I'm okay!" The pain that was still existent in her side caused her to wince, and everyone with her winced with her. "I mean I feel…awake. What happened? Why am I here?"

She looked at the faces of all her colleagues, and she noticed at once nothing was good. Nick looked at Warrick Brown, Catherine Willows, and Gil Grissom, who all looked at each other. The joy she had seen on their faces a moment ago had fled, leaving their faces looking older and ragged. She couldn't tell what was wrong from their faces.

Her own gut instincts told her the very reason for their apparent sorrow.

"Well, you got injured at a crime scene, and now you're here." Catherine said.

"How was I injured?"

Another round of glances was shared amongst the group. Nick spoke up now. "The murderer was hiding in the bathroom of your crime scene. In the ceiling." Sara nodded, and looking down upon herself saw that her side was gauzed.

Exactly where she had felt the pain in the field.

"It's not bad though, hon." Warrick said, making sure not to scare her. "Nothing major in your body was hit."

Like a jigsaw puzzle in her head, little bits and pieces were being drawn back to her and put into place, creating a clearer bigger picture. As more memories came back to her, it became easier to remember. And then in the instance of a second, everything was put in to place. She remembered what had happened. She felt her heart start to race. She started to panic, and she could hear beeping grow faster in her right ear from the machines monitoring her vitals.

"Sara," Catherine warned in a high-pitched voice, "calm down, sweetie."

"Greg." She choked, looking frantically from face to face. "Where's Greg? He was with me, where is he?" Receiving no reply, she searched for the answer in their faces.

"Sara," Grissom said slowly, but he stopped. He could not tell her.

"I'm so sorry sweetie," Nick said, inching his way closer. "He's gone."

Sara looked at them all like they were crazy. "That's impossible. We were talking just a few seconds ago, in a field…he told me he'd see me later." Everyone adapted a pained and pensive face, and Sara's gut started to plummet. "He _is_ here, isn't he? I mean, he was hurt, but he never…Greg's still…" She rambled, looking for an answer in their faces.

She got her answer from the expressions of extreme sorrow as she said his name. Her eyes welled up. "No…" She said, as tears fell down her pale cheeks. She repeated his name louder each time until her sobbing and crying just simply prevented her from doing so. "No! Greg, no…why? Why God why? Why Greg?"

Nick sat down next to her as everyone watched her cry in despair. "Shh…" He whispered as she threw herself in to his chest, crying hysterically in to it. "It'll be okay sweetie…"

However, nothing could sedate her, and she cried and cried until her body could not support it and she fell into a dreamless sleep, where she could still feel the pain subconsciously in her heart. She could not remember the others leaving, nor Nick, who stayed with her until she had heartbreakingly cried herself to sleep.

When she woke up the next time, Catherine was there to meet her, looking at her with careful eyes. Sara immediately remembered all that had happened now, but no tears remained to be cried. She just looked at Catherine with lost brown eyes.

"How're you feeling, Sara?" She asked her in a nurturing tone.

"_I'm not four," _thought Sara cynically, but she appreciated her tactfulness. What else could she ask for; Catherine probably felt the same pain as Sara. "I'm fine." Sara replied, lying through her teeth. However, this seemed to work fine for Catherine, and she smiled.

"That's good." Catherine said. After her words, a pained, awkward silence followed. Catherine could read what was on Sara's mind, but remembering the previous day, she did not want a similar occurrence and therefore kept her mouth shut. Sara realized she would have to break the ice.

"How long have I been out?"

"A week." Catherine replied, soothingly and slowly, trying to keep her peaceful. Her words had an adverse effect.

"A week?" Sara repeated horrified. "A week? That means that Greg…" She choked out his name, and her eyes welled with tears she thought never remained. "Greg's been bur-buried, hasn't he?"

Catherine looked at Sara, and her face also went to one of grief. "Yes, he has." She saw Sara's lip quiver, and Catherine took Sara in to an embrace. "Oh Sara, I'm so sorry this had to happen, but you know that this job has its dangers."

"I know," Sara choked out into Catherine's shoulder, "but why Greg? He was the least deserving of everyone to go, so sweet and intelligent; he had so much to live for! Why him?"

Catherine sighed, rubbing Sara's back as Nick had done. "I guess it was his time. He cheated death once; I guess the second time he wasn't so lucky." She paused, and added, "It'll ease with time. I know."

Sara nodded, and lifted herself from Catherine's embrace. She wiped the remains of her tears from her cheek with a sleeve and licked the salty droplets from her lips. "Thank you Catherine." She said as sincerely as she could. However, she could not stop the ache in her chest. It was an alien feeling to her.

"You're quite welcome, so come on."

Sara looked at her. "Come one? Come on where? I'm in a hospital, there are not many places of variation that we could go."

Catherine gave her a smile. "You were discharged today, so I came to take you home."

Sara's eyes grew wide with astonishment. Her grief was not gone, but momentarily placed aside. "I was _shot _Catherine, should I be discharged so quickly? Isn't this a bit early?"

"Nonsense," Catherine said as if she had gotten just a vaccination, "You're fine. Now come on, here are some clothes, put them on and I'll meet you outside."

Catherine threw Sara some of her old clothes, and walked swiftly out the door, leaving Sara more confused than ever. She had been _shot, _for crying out loud, and she was discharged already? It didn't seem to make sense, but nevertheless, she got up slowly and started to get ready to leave. She would leave this place with any chance it gave her. She hated hospitals. _"I was out for a week," _She assured herself, _"Maybe if nothing serious happened to me, the week of recuperation is enough. That's it, definitely." _

In a few minutes, Sara was walking in the hospital parking lot towards Catherine's car. She got in to the passenger's seat with a little help from Catherine; her side troubled her, but it was nothing to the pain she felt in the field. The ride home was deathly silent; not a word passed between the two women. And if any had passed, Sara did not know about it. She was in a daze, one where she did not think about anything, or realized anything. She was just there.

"…Sara? Hello?"

"Hmm?" Sara said in response to a hand waving in front of her.

"Sara, we're here." Catherine said as she opened the passenger door for Sara, and sure enough, as Sara looked out the window she could see her apartment complex. Catherine helped her out of the door, and up the stairs to her room. Sara couldn't remember how Catherine got her key. She didn't really care.

"Now, Grissom said you have the next two days off, and you have office duty for a day after that, just to get you back in to the swing of things. If you need anything, just call one of us at the lab, we'll come as soon as we can. Are you going to be okay?" Catherine asked Sara who was just staring blankly at her.

"Yeah…"

"Good. Well, I hope you feel better soon, Sara, I'll talk to you later. Get some rest." Catherine turned away, but soon looked back at Sara, who hadn't moved. "And don't worry. Pain heals with time. For a while it'll be bad, but you'll see. Soon you'll forget all about him."

This shook Sara out of her stupor, and she gazed at Catherine with vast shock. She was going to ask her what she meant but she could not get her mouth to work before Catherine was already halfway down the street.

_"Forget all about him…"_

How could she ever forget about one of her best friends? Why would she ever want to? Catherine was crazy! All of this was crazy! As Sara thought more and more about it as she walked into her apartment, tears sprung anew in to her eyes, and trickled down her flush cheeks. She grabbed a bottle of water, and walked in to her room and changed for bed, all the while getting further and further lost in thought. How could she forget about one of her best friends? He may be gone, but she could never forget him. If she did, she really would never have forgiven herself. Greg deserved more than being forgotten like a piece of trash on the side of the road. He deserved to be remembered for all his best qualities. It was what he would have wanted.

Sara started to sob. The more she thought of Greg, the more reality seemed to push on her like gravity. Greg was gone, and her whole world seemed to be crashing down around her. Greg was gone…she would never hear his jokes, or watch him with amusement as he played practical jokes on Nick and Warrick. She would never watch his face light up with a great discovery of evidence one of the more experienced CSI's missed, or feel pride when he found something amazing. She would never have the opportunity to have him flirt with her, or work by his side as partners. Her sobbing became hysterical.

She flung herself on to her bed, and cried in to her pillow. _"What am I going to do?"_ She thought to herself. She never felt this way before. She felt hollow inside. The sorrow and grief threatened to create a black void in her heart so great she would never see light again. She struggled for breath. She needed a purpose...but her thoughts were spinning too out of control for that. She would never survive long enough to think of a purpose, and this truth scared her.

She needed to escape, if only for a few hours. She needed sleep to come and envelope her and carry her off to a place where she did not need to worry about any of her worldly troubles. But in her state she would never fall to sleep on her own. She needed help.

Still crying feverishly, she reached down into her bedside table and withdrew a bottle of small white tablets. They were her secret stash of sleeping pills that she kept for after those really hard cases that kept her awake, her mind screaming and left in turmoil. She shakily popped one into her mouth and swallowed it dry, and after five minutes of still crying, she could finally feel the effects, and very, very soon she had drifted off into a sleep. She had escaped the world and harsh reality for a few hours, but her troubles were far from over.

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**There...this chapter may seem slow, but it was necessary...and now, the next chapter will present her biggest issue:) Hope you enjoy!**


	3. Reunited?

**A/N: No one needs to remind me that I'm a horrible person...but I've been in with my sister in ye old capital city, St. Johns, hanging out and playing mini-golf. So, since I had no time in which to write, nothing got written. I had to wait til now, approximately 12:29 a.m. to write this, but I hope things will be faster. Oh, and by the way, going to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix tomorrow...if anyone has seen it, let me know what you thought of it;) Whee, Harry Potter!!! Haha, anyways, here's more from me:)

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Sara was now beyond confused. She looked about to her right and left, behind and forward and she saw nothing that was familiar to her. She was smack dab in the middle of the wilderness, an impenetrable maze of trees and mosses. Dappled sunlight pierced the canopy of leaves and hit the ground, and truth be told, it was gorgeous. Sara would have loved it had she not been so scared and lost.

She had thought all her problems would go with her consciousness, but she was never so wrong in her life. In sleep her grief seemed to increase tenfold, and she fell to the ground, starting to sob again without tears. Someone once told her that crying never made things better, and she could do nothing but agree, yet she could not stop them from streaming down her flushed cheeks.

"Aww, come on Sara, don't cry."

Sara immediately recognized the voice, and when she turned around, she saw him standing behind her in the worn forest path, holding out a hand to help her up. She ignored Greg's hand and jumped towards him in a single bound, catching him in a tender embrace, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

"Greg!" Seeing his face, she cried harder in joy. "I knew you weren't gone! I knew you were still here! I missed you so much, and you were only gone for a day!"

"Woah, Sara…" Greg said, caught by surprise by her passionate outburst, but soon he tried to appease her sobbing. "Come on Sar, you're getting my t-shirt all wet. I'm okay."

She obeyed his wishes and slowly unwrapping her arms from around his neck, she distanced herself enough to get a good look at him. It was definitely him, every freckle and unkempt hair was in its place, the curls the same sandy colour and his eyes that intelligent brown. "Where were you too? I was in the hospital, and you weren't there."

Greg gave a sad smile. "I'll always be with you Sara, you know that." Sara was about to contradict him, but he added, "I was busy fighting my own battles."

"Your own battles?" Sara questioned, looking at him.

"Don't worry, Sara," He assured her, taking her hand into his, "I won. And now I can be with you. Come on," He said, leading her by her hand further along the path, "I have some place I want to show you."

"Wha?" Sara started, unsure about going further into the very place she was so scared of before, "where are we going?"

Greg gave a hearty laugh. "Sara, Sara, Sara", he said, looking in to her face, staring into her very soul through her eyes, "are you afraid of being lost with me in the woods?" Sara laughed at this, causing Greg to smile. "Don't you trust me?"

_"With all my heart and soul," _She thought, but instead replied, "Yes, of course."

"Then trust me enough to take you safely through this forest." He continued to walk, and this time Sara willingly relinquished her power and went with him.

As she had noticed before, the woods were beautiful. Sara was always a nature nut, but this was something anyone could enjoy. All about her were flora of variety, trees with needles and leaves, shrubs with berries and thorns, and flowers of rainbow colours. As they walked along, they heard the chattering of squirrels and they could see the momentary flitting of birds as they swooped about the branches.

"Where are we, Greg?" Sara asked, after a few minutes of silence as they walked together, her hand still in his, "This can't be Nevada anymore, can it?"

"Actually, it is." Greg answered, as he reached up and picked a bundle of white flowers from a drooping branch. He handed it to Sara, and smiled. "It's only a little bit out of the way, further North and East of Las Vegas. I found this place when I was blowing off some steam once after a tough case. It struck me as really pretty. I wanted to save it for someone special."

Sara smiled. "So, I'm special?"

"No, but I felt bad because we both got shot." Sara's jaw dropped in mock horrification and she gave him a shove. He gave one of his bright addicting smiles and laughed. "No, seriously, you'll love it."

Sara nodded, and they entered a comfortable silence as they continued along the worn path, which was starting to meander. Sara, still looking at the beautiful snowball of white flowers Greg had picked for her, sniffed in their sweet scent and placed them delicately in her hair. She laughed inside at herself; what had she turned into? This whole scene, walking in the forest with flowers in her hair holding hands with a man seemed so much like the Harlequin novels she always scoffed at, and yet she was loving it. It was such a strange euphoria, she couldn't describe it.

As she mulled over these thoughts, Greg let go of her hand and lifting his arm lazily over his head, placed it about her shoulders and pulled her closer as they walked. Against his chest, she felt him tense, but as she eased into the embrace, she felt him relax. Again, she felt that same feeling. She had felt it before...she couldn't place where it was she had felt it. She didn't really care. All she knew was that she felt more calm and happy in this moment than she had in the last few years of her life.

"Greg, how much longer until we get there?" Sara asked, all of a sudden impatient to see where in the world she was being taken. Even though the scenery was stunning, Sara Sidle wasn't a woman who was blessed with patience. Especially under circumstances in which so much was unknown like this.

She felt Greg's chest shudder with a chuckle. "Getting impatient, are we? Well, for your information, we're here. Look in front of you."

Sara turned, and her eyes were met by the most beautiful sight she had ever witnessed. It was like Monet had picked her up and dropped her in to one of his very own paintings. They had arrived at a little clearing with a stream of clear water running through it, where it ran in to a pond of the same clear water. Lily pads with bright yellow flowers lined part of the shore, and rocks that were smooth to the touch formed the calm shore. The quiet rumbling of rapids could be heard somewhere out of sight, giving a peaceful background noise. Mosses grew like a shaggy carpet on the forest floor, and great weeping willow trees lined the shore, their leafy tendrils touching the water and, as they shook in the winds, created ripples. Butterflies as varied in colour as the flowers flew about, and she saw breaching fish and hopping frogs, among other amazing beautiful sights.

Sara was paralyzed with wonder. She just stared at the paradise in front of her, not daring to believe that this piece of heaven could be real until a tug on her hand reminded her that she was not alone.

"Come on Sara, come over here and sit." Greg said, pretty much pulling her over to a little spot under the weeping willow trees near the water. Sara gave a huge smile and followed him. Her heart swelled just being here, in this place, in his presence, it was all so amazing to her. Greg sat down, and she lowered herself near him, closer to the water's edge.

"Greg, this is so amazing!" Sara gushed, looking over her surroundings once more. "I'm so happy you took me to this place, it's wonderful."

Greg gave a rueful smile. "I wanted to show you this place before, but I never had the courage to ask you before."

"That's silly, Greg." Sara said, though she knew that she was the one being silly.

Greg gave a sad laugh. "Yeah, this place isn't exactly a hang-out for buddies, if you know what I mean. Like I said, I was saving it for someone special...well, that special someone is you." Greg looked away blinking, and turned to her again, "I never told you that before, and now I'm afraid I'll never be able to tell you how I truly feel."

"Greg, what do you..." Sara's eyes went wide as realization set in. She scurried to the water, and dipped her hand into the refreshing looking liquid. She never felt a thing. She tried to scoop it and splash it, but her hand displaced nothing. She leaned back, the dread rising in her body. "It's another dream," She whispered. "None of this is real, is it?" She started to tremble. "You're still gone forever."

"It's okay Sara," Greg said, looking at her with a handsome smile and eyes shining with unshed tears, "It'll all be okay, because you know what? You can still be with me if you wake up."

"What are you talking about?" Sara cried as tears sprang from her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time in two days, "You're dead, and gone!"

Greg laughed again, a bitter laugh that gave Sara chills. "Sara, we were through this. Don't you trust me?"

"Greg," She sighed, "you know I do, but..."

"Then trust me when I say that I'll be there when you wake up."

Sara looked at him with wide eyes, but nodded, and closing her eyes willed herself to wake up from her dream. She saw grey spots dance on her eyelids, and she heard Greg's whispers fade from her hearing, though she yearned for his voice. "Wake up and we can be together...just wake up..."

* * *

And when she opened her eyes, she was back in her room. No amazing forest paradise, no refreshing spring. There was only her, tangled completely in her bedclothes, her pillow soaked with tears she thought she shed only in dreams. And she was deathly alone.

She eased herself in to a sitting position, and found she was in pain. Inside, her heart ached with a pain she had never known before. She blamed it on her dream. _"I'm never using those damn useless pills again." _Sara muttered inside her head, _"Garunteed dreamless sleep indeed."_ Her side also ached still, from the damn incident that occured the day before. That treacherous incident that took one of her best and only friends from her before it was their time. Or tried. Greg had promised that he was here, and she trusted him.

That meant he had to be here, alive, right? All she had to do was search for him.

Slowly, she inched her way out of her bed untangling herself as she went and trying not to aggravate her wound. She made her way about getting dressed and walked out in to the living room. When she entered, she saw through her window that it was early morning. The sun was still red from crowning the mountains, and beams of bright light shot through her drapes casting a maroon glow on the walls and furniture of her living room. Sara stretched carefully, and looked at the clock. _8:24._That meant she had the whole day to search for Greg. However, that was easier said than done with her wound, and considering the size of Las Vegas. So, to get her strength up, she decided to grab some fruit and read something.

She went to her fridge and grabbed a cold apple, and biting into it carefully, and setting her coffee pot brewing, she decided to settle down with the daily newspaper she had grabbed from her door slot. She eased herself down on to her sofa, and flicked the paper open.

Upon reading the headline she lost her appetite, and that familiar feeling of dread invaded her chest. _Tragedy For LVPD: CSI Killed In Action._ She threw the paper away in disgust, and jumped up from the sofa despite the pain in her side. She hastened to the coffee pot and poured herself a large cup full, downing it though it was scalding. She felt it burn her throat and tongue something fierce, but she ignored the impulses of her nerves. She felt like she could use the strength. Greg hadn't lied to her, yet proof that he did was on the cover of the _Las Vegas Sun_. Something was wrong. _"Maybe it's another CSI," _Sara consoled herself, _"Greg wouldn't lie to me."_

Sara took solace in that fact, but something else, deep in the back of her mind, was whispering something to her, defiling her pure and hopeful thoughts. _"Maybe Greg wouldn't, but your dreams could..."_

However, Sara could not accept that ending and, as she poured a travel mug full of coffee, walked out of her apartment, grabbing her keys and locking the door behind her. She couldn't stay here alone with nothing to do for fear she would drive herself mad with the unknown. She had to, if she couldn't search for Greg yet, at least get some chores done. She had to go on with her life, or at the very least try. And so, with that thought so foolishly placed in her head, she set off for the grocery shop with the misconception that she would find Greg at the end of the day.


	4. Bitter Reminders

**A/N: I'm STILL not home...sigh...this is ridiculous. Oh well, I got to go muscle picking today, which was great:) And I did have some spare time to finish this chapter, so here it is...though it is shorter than my other offerings. This chapter may or may not be a little boring, also. I liked it, and I felt it was necessary to convey certain aspects I need to show. So, here you go, everyone. I hope you enjoy!

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It was ceaseless and tormenting. The dull throbbing in Sara's head had not left her, and had now turned into the feverish oncoming of a migraine. She was lying on the couch in mental torture, her mind exploding with thoughts and memories, straining herself to stay strong and to not cry. She took a shuddering breath to retain her composure.

"_This is all his fault," _She thought bitterly.

And truthfully, it was Greg's fault. Somehow he had succeeded in being more the center of attention in death than in life. But that was a very awful way of thinking about it. And besides, Greg was just…missing, that's all. He had promised Sara that he was here, and she trusted him. But as of now, he was causing her mental anguish.

Sara sighed, closing her eyes and trying to sleep away her headache. But it was hard. She could feel the strain on her mind and body, which was begging for something to ease their affliction and allow them to rest. Only sleep would cure her ailments, but no matter how much she tried to drift away, he would always appear to her. Everything she saw reminded her of him, just like earlier, which was how the whole messy headache affair started.

* * *

_Earlier…_

The mechanical whoosh of the automatic doors signalled to Sara, who had been walking in almost a half-sleep that she had indeed arrived at her destination. The grocery shop. Sara sighed at the dullness of the task ahead of her. However much she hated this task normally, she knew she needed a shred of a normal routine to keep herself from going insane. She walked up to the group of carts and picked out the nearest one. She tried to push it, but found that it glided to the side.

"_Just my luck, isn't it?"_ She mumbled angrily under her breath. She gave it another rough push and adjusting its direction every few meters, started her mundane chore. Reaching the first aisle, she reached her hand up to grab some pita hand when something peculiar caught her eye. Her fingers grazed a do-it-yourself burrito kit, and then she grasped why it had caused her to stop. Burritos reminded her of him; a few nights after the accident. She had taken it to Greg in the hospital on one of her routine stops to cheer him up. When she saw him lying broken in the alleyway, beaten within an inch of his life, she vowed to herself to help him through the rough times. Burritos were the food she took to him a few hours after Greg saw the college kid he had run into die in front of him, and it was over burritos that she listened to him, and was there for him.

She gasped and her hand quickly retracted, as if it had just burst into flames before her very eyes. She quickly grabbed the pita bread and walked further down the aisle, trying to put the memory of her friend out of her mind, or at least in the very back.

Sara took a quick glance at her list. The next items on her list were fairly easy, eggs, milk and cheese. She made her way to the coolers and picked up the items, checking them off her list as she went. She turned the corner and saw the freezers. Looking upon her list, she saw ice cream.

"_Perfect,"_ She thought was she walked over to them, _"No need to go searching for everything, it all seems to be in order."_

She opened the freezer, and a puff of sublimated vapour rose from the ice that lined the sides of the frosty container. She looked at it as she lifted the container of strawberry cheesecake ice cream from the bottom. Ice…reminded her of a case she had worked on before. A different from usual case of two dead college lovers who had died of under odd circumstances on the floor of one of their rooms. They had died from carbon dioxide poisoning, from the sublimates of dry ice. Dry ice that, incidentally, had caused a nearby toilet to explode. Greg had been the one to discover that connection. She had felt so proud watching him...and they had shared a laugh when Greg blew up an abandoned toilet for an experiment.

Sara curled her fingers lightly, as someone behind her cleared their throat. She turned, and saw that a line had appeared behind her as she lost herself in fond memories. Blushing, she quickly excused herself and hurried down one of the less busy aisles. She looked about, and noticed that she had ducked down the aisle dedicated to pets.

"_Nice choice Sidle," _She thought condescendingly to herself, _"I don't even have a pet."_ But, as she looked at the pictures of kittens and puppies on the covers of toys and food, she contented herself with looking at the assortment of items one could buy for their pet. She liked animals, so she didn't have to force herself too much. She even managed a chuckle at seeing an assortment of sweaters for your dog. Then she came to the bird toys. There were tiny ladders and calcium blocks and millet seed, and something called a feather tether.

Sara shook her head again; people could be so foolish. She passed it, but her cart once again shifted to the side and knocked in to the shelves. Toys and food went everywhere, and Sara let out a very dissatisfactory growl. She bent down and picked up the fallen items, that is, until she picked up the last item, a chain of large wooden blocks.

"For your cockatoos and large parrots…" Sara read aloud the label attached to the package, and once again her thoughts drifted to the past. It was a case about a man who died in his own house when it was being fumigated. He was still so inexperienced at being in the field, yet he was eager to learn and to do good. She felt so good watching Greg's confidence grow, especially as he saw the case unfold…when someone identified the blue macaw's tail feathers, and identified the thief.

This was too much...

Sara stopped then. She threw down the package and started to run towards the exit.

"Miss!" Someone called from behind her, "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Sara replied, struggling to keep her voice even.

"What about the items in your cart? Are you buying them?"

It must have been an employee. However, at that point Sara didn't even care if she left her life savings in that cart. She needed to get out of there. She didn't need to eat anyways, right? She shook her head and never even turned towards the person talking with her as she continued her rushed way out of the grocery store, her head a mixed up torment of questions. She couldn't concentrate on anything…she was just way too confused! She had to get home just so she could stop and think. She got in her car and started to drive.

"_I don't get it," _Thought the logical part of her brain as she nearly plastered a pedestrian, _"Everyone tells me that Greg is gone, and I saw him get shot with my own eyes. I haven't seen him in two days. Why do I still believe that he'll just appear from out of nowhere?"_

"_Because he promised you, duh!"_ Argued the other more intuitive part of her brain, _"And you know that however much of a clown Greg Sanders is, he never goes back on a promise. He is the one of the most dependable men you know. And he's really cute…"_

"_Please," _Said logical Sara, _"Greg Sanders is a buffoon, and you knew one day he'd get himself killed. He was accident prone. There was the lab incident, and then the alleyway? He was a few crayons short of a crayola box. Besides, he hasn't come to see me."_

"_That was different! He was blown up in the lab because of Catherine, not because of anything he did. Hell, I got caught in that blast as well! And he got caught in that alley because he felt obligated to save someone from being beaten to death. He was courageous, a hero. He's smart and witty. And he's a fighter. Nothing points to his being gone forever."_

_"Except this: Why hasn't he come to visit me? Oh, and you're about to pass through a red light."_

Sara snapped out of her reverie and noticed that she was indeed passing through a red light, and she slammed on the brakes as a transport truck came barrelling down the road, honking its horn. Sara's blood froze, her heart stopped, and she swore her jaw must have fallen off it dropped so fast. Seconds were minutes as she tried to get her breath back from the initial panic of nearly being made into a pancake.

That was **way **to close for comfort.

Once her pulse had regained some of its regularity, she finished the short drive the rest of the way home. She didn't even remember pulling in to her parking lot or making her way up the stairs to her door, or even opening the door and entering her apartment. All she knew was that now, she was lying on her couch, having another battle with herself.

Her head was a swirl of uncertainty, the logical and emotional sides of her mind torturing her body and soul with their debate. She was in a cold sweat, and she was scaring herself. When had her life become so bewildering?

"_When Greg went missing from your life." _The emotional side of her mind told her.

"_He's always causing trouble." _Said the logical side. _"It was when you became weak. When you let people become close to you. They just hurt you in the end."_

"Shut up!" She yelled out loud, trying to silence the voices in her head. She groaned and tried to fall to sleep once again, an ice pack on her forehead to try and deaden the throbbing and her eyelids offering the deep blackness she coveted, yet could not have at only ten in the morning. Even more frustrating than the devils in her mind was the fact that the whole shopping debacle had only lasted about an hour.

There was only one way to end this. And Sara knew exactly what that was. She jumped up from the couch and ran to her room. She stripped and dressed for bed, and she grabbed the old warm bottle of water from the bedside table. Then she picked up the white tablets of heaven from the table shelf. Vaguely, she wondered if she should take the sleeping pills two days in a row, but that was quickly thrown out the window with a particularly sharp pang in her head. She sprinkled a few tablets out in to her hand like skittles, and looked at them in her hand. They were inviting her in to their warm embrace, the outlet they offered to a land where you never needed to think of your problems. It was too tempting to resist.

Last time she took one tablet, but that took too much time to fall asleep for her. _"I'll take two tablets," _Said Sara to the air, _"Maybe it'll make me fall asleep faster."_

So, she downed the two pills, satisfied that the voices would leave her alone. And once again, she found herself unable to lose herself in blankets and pillows and, hopefully, sweet candy dreams.


	5. Greg's Riddle

**A/N: This keeps going wonky on me...I had to redo this document about a dozen times, but enough of me retyping my pointless authors notes...here is the chapter...more soon...hopefully! **

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**CHAPTER 5: GREG'S RIDDLE**

Sara was pissed. "Where the hell am I too now?" She shouted to the air, anger and confusion lacing her voice. She looked around. She was definitely not in Nevada anymore.

Now she was in the middle of a busy street, in a quaint little town. The air was fairly warm, but a cool sea breeze blew through the cobblestone roads, and the sun did not have the same effect on her skin as the hot Las Vegas sun did. It did not warm her as much.

Through the droves of people that walked along the streets, she saw the tiny businesses run by merchants, and she saw peddlers selling homemade jewellery and other knick-knacks on the sides of the streets. She looked off in to the distance and saw houses that resembled the newer ones at home, yet the ones nearest her had a quaint feel to them; they were built of logs, and had an overall aged feel to them. It was like someone had dropped her off to 1907.

"You are in a little town in Norway."

Sara spun around, and her blood rose to her face in an irritated fashion. Greg had issued her answer, and he looked so damn innocent. Didn't he know how miserable he was making her?

"You!" She yelled, advancing towards his startled figure. "You lied to me!"

"What?" Greg uttered, completely bewildered, "I lied? About what?"

"Don't act all innocent with me, Greg Sanders!" Sara continued, oblivious to everything else but him. "You said you'd be there when I woke up, and you weren't!" Sara would have cried had her anger not consumed all her emotion. She continued to advance on Greg, now forcing him to back up. "Why was _that_ Greg? Huh? Are you planning on making me go _insane _trying to find you?"

"Wait wait wait wait **wait **Sara!" Greg said as his back hit the wall behind him. His eyes showed the fear he held for Sara and her infamous temper. "Just _listen _to me, okay?"

Sara stopped, and stood with her arms folded across her chest. "Okay. Go on Greg."

Greg let out a great sigh of relief. "Okay, Sara the reason I can't come to you is that I can't. I've been trying to get to you, but I can't."

Sara gave him a sceptical look. Yet an undeniable hint of concern could be found in the lines of her face. "Why's that? Are you in trouble?"

"No. You are, Sara."

"What?"

"Just…never mind that for now." Greg said, shaking his hands. "You can get yourself out of trouble by finding me. You just have to try harder."

Sara wasn't sure what she looked like, but she felt her face twist in a severe state of confusion. "Greg Sanders, what the _hell _does that mean? You're the one who was shot…I mean, I was too but I'm not supposedly _dead_!"

Greg gave a smile of mixed emotions. "I'll only die if you stop searching for me."

Sara gave a warning growl. "Stop speaking in riddles! My head hurts too much for this right now…or it did when I was awake. Now, stop! Tell me why none of this seems right."

Greg gave her a sideways glance. "What doesn't seem right? Isn't everything like it usually is?"

Sara was about to retort with a snooty remark, but she stopped. He was right. And yet, he was wrong. "Nothing seems different, that is, nothing that happened toady. But…nothing feels right Greg. I keep thinking of you like you're the only person in the world. Every time I see something, I am reminded of you in some way. It's driving me insane."

Greg smirked. "I'd give anything to actually hear you say that to my face."

"Shut up Greg, it's not funny." Sara replied. "But…I've been away from you for more than a day before…why am I so caught up in you now?"

Greg sobered a bit. "It's because we're further apart now than we've ever been before. And we both know it, and also because we might not ever see each other in person ever again." They were silent for a bit, Greg still with his back against the wall. "And that scares me like you'll never believe."

Sara looked up and caught his eye. They were watery with emotion, and she felt something constrict in her throat. She tried to swallow it. "Don't worry Greggo…I'm not going to give you up without a fight. But I'm still going to have to figure out your crazy riddles. I still don't know why you just don't come out and tell me what I have to do."

"Where's the fun in that?" Greg said, his former melancholy gone somewhat. _"It never was like Greg to let a sad situation keep him down for long."_ Sara thought happily.

Sara smiled in return, and backed off enough to allow Greg to ease himself off the wall he had been backed in to. By now, she had realized that this was nothing more than another dream. If it was anything like the other dream, she figured she might as well enjoy it while the pills still did their work. Here, her head didn't bother her, and all she needed to worry about was Greg, figuring out his riddles and spending as much time with him as she could before being sent back to a reality without him. It was a heaven inside a hell. But she preferred this to the alternative. As long as he was there, she was fine.

"So, you said this was a small town in Norway?" Sara said as they started walking together again in the direction of the town houses dropped from a time long passed. She wanted to place her hand in his, but she was too afraid of her dream ending too quickly, and she wasn't quite ready to watch Greg fade from right in front of her like a haunting apparition.

"Um…yeah, actually," Greg started, walking along the street a little bit ahead of her. "You've heard of me talk of my grandparents, Nana and Papa Olaf?"

Sara chuckled. "How could I forget? You basically idolize them."

"I love 'em to pieces…they were always with me when I was a kid. Heck, they were like a second set of parents, only older and wrinkled. Anyways," He kept speaking after he saw Sara was listening attentively, laughing at his childlike choice of words, "I may not have told you this, but Papa Olaf got kicked out of Norway."

Sara's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Really? How did he manage that?"

"He got my grandmother pregnant."

"Ouch." Sara replied. "Tough laws here. Then how're you supposed to have kids in this country…"

"Sara!" Greg stopped her, watching a smile grace her face at her joking thoughts. "He got kicked out because he impregnated her _before _they were married."

"That's kind of cool. But how did your grandfather and grandmother get back together?" Sara was interested in Greg's far-back past. However open Greg was, he never seemed to talk about his past unless prompted. _"Something we have in common, I guess." _Sara thought.

"My grandmother had her child here, and then left Norway and went with my grandfather. They immigrated to a place where they could be together. I guess you know where that is."

"I'm going to throw a wild guess out and say the U.S." Sara said sarcastically.

"And the lady is a winner!" Greg shouted as he stopped momentarily so that Sara could catch up with him, and they resumed walked side by side up the quiet country road. "Anyways, that's the prologue to the reason why I want to come here one day. This is where my grandparents grew up. I think it would be nice to come and visit. From how my grandparents described it, it's gorgeous. The little villas dotting the landscape, a salty aroma drifting on the air from the sea, and no sunburns."

Sara laughed again. "It sounds beautiful, Greg."

"And when I go, I'll hopefully have someone to accompany me?" Greg spoke as if it were just a normal sentence, but Sara picked up on the trace of a question lining its tail, and the hint of a hope in his voice. "It'd be pretty lonely alone."

"I'd love to come with you." Sara tried to say, but her words came out as a whisper. "But when I wake up, I don't know where to find you. Where will you be? Why can't you just tell me?"

"I can't. Only you can find me. You just have to figure this all out and find me. When you wake up, you'll be able to find me."

Sara sighed. "You said that last time. Greg, when I wake up you won't…"

"I will Sara, I will!" Greg pleaded, "You just have to search for me when you wake up."

Sara finally gave in to the temptation and reached for his hand. "I don't know where to look…I just want to be with you, just for a little longer." Her hand never made contact with his, and like before with the stream, her fingers glided easily through it. "I don't want to wake up."

"Sara, I'll die if you don't wake up. You really want to see me again?" Greg said, his voice fading from her dreams. "Then you know what you have to do. You have to wake up and find me."

And he was gone, like that. Sara looked at her clenched hand where it had once tried to hold Greg's. She had hugged him in her other dream, but it had been at the beginning of her sleep. Now Greg was gone…it could only mean one thing. She looked about, and saw everything around her start to disappear, leaving her in a world of white nothingness. No more were the villas and cobblestone roads. All that was left was white walls, floor, and ceiling. Sara closed her eyes. She was waking up, and wishing that she wasn't waking up would do no good. And for Sara Sidle, woman of work who slept as little as possible because it got in her way, wishing to stay asleep was a long way away from normalcy.

And as she had predicted, when she opened her eyes once more, she was in her apartment, her bedroom, in her bed, pyjamas, and her reality. With a great pained sigh, she sat up in her bed. Her side was still feeling sore, but she was shot, she didn't expect it to heal all that quickly. And asides from that, her side hurt nothing like how her head and heart ached. She found herself very lethargic as she swung her legs on to the edge of her bed. However, she just blamed the drugs. She had taken two pills this time, after all.

She had never needed to take two pills in her life. She wasn't quite sure what the effects would be.

She made the same journey she did just that morning. She walked down the hall in to the living room, and was surprised to still see the bright light of the sun glinting through the crack between where the drapes and window met. Then she looked at the clock that hung on the wall.

It was only six in the evening.

"_I've never slept so much in my life!" _Thought Sara to herself. _"Nor has time gone so slow. I'll never get through the week at this rate!"_

However, as she grabbed a microwave dinner from her freezer (Despite her argument with herself at the grocery store, she was starving and did need to eat!), she was actually glad for the hours left until she had to actually go to sleep like a normal person. She could eat in a half hour; that gave her plenty of time to savour the meal, get a shower, and get ready to face the day, or rather, what she hadn't slept away.

"_If I find Greg," _Thought Sara, _"Then I'll stop worrying about him, and then I can get back to my life. He won't be in my every thought and disrupting my concentration."_

She was going to find Greg before he completely consumed her, body and soul. His mysterious words were bouncing around in Sara's head like a rubber ball, yet it never ceased to be foremost in her thoughts.

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	6. The Search For Greg Sanders

**A/N: This 'I feel like annoying you by erasing my work when I try and post the chapter' attitude by the documents page has got to stop...sigh...this is the third time I;ve written an authors note...the first time it erased the chapter name. But anyways, as to my elapsed absense, blame Harry Potter, my family and visitors coming home fr Come Home weekend (the islands excuse for drinking excess amounts of alcohol, Newfie style) and my computer troubles. But, enough of that! Without further ado, heres the new chapter!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 6: THE SEARCH FOR GREG SANDERS**

It was six thirty in the evening. Sara had her mind set on what she was going to do next. There was no doubt in her mind that she needed to solve Greg's riddle or she would go insane. All the thoughts hurtling through her head, spinning out of control, and the state of confusion she was in, seemingly constant, would stop, she was sure when she solved the puzzle.

That was easier said than done.

Sara had no idea where to start looking. She could go to the bar usually inhabited by the Crime Lab staff who wanted to unwind, but she doubted Greg would be drinking off his gun shot pain…in a public place anyways. He was sociable, but he had lost his youthful lust for the drunk bar scene when alone, and usually waited until Nick or Warrick, or even Catherine, would go with him.

He had never asked Sara, to her memory. No, wait, he had. She just shot him down, as usual.

She growled to herself. If she had just had her time back, maybe she wouldn't have shot him down so many times. But even she knew that was a big lie. _"I would have treated him just as badly," _Sara thought remorsefully. _"I was just too caught up with Grissom, and I was just too blind…what the hell am I thinking?"_

Sara stopped herself short, in the middle of her parking lot as she made her way to the car. Her eyes were staring off in to her space as she concentrated hard on her own thoughts as she continually fought with herself. The wind whipped around her, blowing leaves and dust about her ankles and whipping her hair back behind her shoulders. She had to stop her thoughts before the entered a realm of impossibility she had never thought of before. She wanted to find Greg because he was one of her best friends, and she missed him horribly. That was all there was too it.

It wasn't because…she…thought of him as more than a friend. Never could it be that.

And yet, Sara found herself struggling to think of it any differently. All those times of being asked out by him, being complimented by him, and listening to his shameless flirting impassively, and only _now _she chose to acknowledge her feelings? _"I'm such a moron…" _Sara muttered mournfully.

She shook her head and attempted to clear her head somewhat of thoughts so she could get to her destination without having another close call with the Grim Reaper in the form of a transport truck. However, once seated in her car, she had no idea where to go. She could go to the lab, but then she would have to face everyone, and their questions, Hodges and his taunts, and if Greg wasn't there…it would just bring too many memories. But if he was there…

Sara decided to leave that place until last. She started up her car, and turned out of her spot and into the streets of Las Vegas, not slowing down with night, but becoming heavier with traffic. She knew where to go first.

* * *

Sara stood on the step of Greg's door, her coat wrapped snugly around her form. Whether it was cold or not, Sara was shivering, and she had goose bumps all along her arms. She clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. She looked around, doing anything to stall knocking on the door. She saw a couple walking along, hand in hand. But that wasn't what Sara noticed. They were in shorts and tank tops. It couldn't have been cold, even with the high winds. 

"_Can I really be nervous?" _Thought Sara, as though she were amazed at the thought. _"What have I got to be nervous about? It's just Greg…"_

"_Yes, but that's not the reason. You're afraid of what you may find. If you don't find him, you'll be lost. If you do…well…you're going to have to sort through your feelings sometime or another."_

Sara cursed loudly causing a nearby neighbour of Greg's to peek out her door at her, a disdainful look upon her face. They were back; logical Sara and emotional Sara were taking over again.

"_I don't need to do anything now except find Greg. That's all. And if I don't I can learn to cope. I coped when Hank and Grissom shot me down. I learned to cope when my mother killed my father, and I was forced into the system. I am strong, and I can make it through losing Greg…if he were gone, that is."_

"_That's right, Greg's not gone, just missing. We do need to find him. This is as good a place as any to start looking."_

Sara was impressed; her mind seemed to actually focus now. Her thoughts were not contradicting, and she now had her concentration back. She held a breath, closed her eyes, mustered all the courage inside her, taking the plunge and knocked on the door. She didn't hear anything. Maybe Greg had a very quiet door and was actually staring at her right now? She opened her eyes.

The door was still closed.

Sara knocked again, hoping beyond what hope that the door would inexplicably open and reveal Greg, his arms open to embrace her. _"Damn the harlequin moments," _She thought to herself. Not having Greg's usual humour around to sate her was having a crazy effect on her.

"I'm sorry dear," Came a voice behind Sara. "But the young man isn't here at the moment."

Sara stopped knocking and looked at the older lady, the same neighbour who had peeked at her through her door, which had spoken to her. Her hair was starting to grey, contrasting with the black that still remained. Yet her eyes, a deep cerulean, were still bright. Sara saw life and friendliness in those eyes.

"Do you know where he is?" Sara asked, though she thought she knew the answer already.

The old lady shook her head. "No, I haven't seen him in a while. I'm sorry, but I don't know where he is."

Sara let go a breath she never knew she had held. Strike one. He wasn't home. Sara inclined her head a tiny bit towards the lady. "Okay, thank you for your help."

"Wait, dear," the lady said, holding out her hand as if it would make Sara stop magically. "Why are you looking for the young man?"

"Oh." Sara was caught off guard. _"Nosy old lady. Maybe she has something to hide." "She's just curious. She must know him too." _There went the concentration. The two sides of her thoughts were once again on opposing sides. Usually Sara found herself so focused; what had happened to her for her feelings to become so conflicting?

"_Greg left." _Emotional Sara said.

"_Your world is a mess," _Added Logical Sara.

"_Greg left."_

"_You have no order, and nothing seems real."_

"Oh, he's my friend." Sara said, making something up. It wasn't a lie, anyways. "I haven't seen him in a while and I was wondering where he was." That wasn't a lie either.

The old lady seemed to tense up in her face for a minute. "Oh, I'm sorry dear, to have to tell you this, but he's left for a while."

Sara nodded, afraid but prepared for this answer. It was what everyone else was telling her. "Oh, okay…thank you for your time." Sara's voice broke, and she tried to swallow the lump that was squirming its way into her throat, making her eyes water and her tongue hungry for words that couldn't pass to it.

"Oh, wait dear, but he left me a message for you."

Sara whirled around from her departure, staring at the lady curiously through narrowed eyes. "Greg left me a message?"

"Yes, I believe you are the one he meant. Sara Sidle?" Sara nodded, and the lady smiled. "He said that he may be gone, but you still need to look for him. He says he'll be back as soon as he can."

Sara gaped at the woman with her mouth wide open as she thought. _"A part of Greg's crazy riddle." _"Thank you, that was really helpful."

He lady smiled a warming smile. "No problem dear. You really have him worried, you know. He says you're in trouble. I think you'll be fine. You just need to pull together all of your strength and fight."

Sara stared at the lady. It was like she was speaking a foreign language, because Sara did not understand a word of what she meant. "Another crazy riddle…" She whispered. Sara suddenly felt the pressing need to get you of there. "Yeah…I've heard…well, I have to…"

"Oh, I have to go now, dear." The lady cut her off, her words bringing relief to Sara. "I have to see some other people. I hope to see you again soon, dear, and I hope you find your friend. Oh, by the way," she added, "my name is Yvonne."

Sara smiled. "I hope I find him too. Thank you for your help, Yvonne."

Yvonne returned the smile, and walked back through the door, which suddenly started to swim in front of her. Sara swayed on the spot, dizziness washing over her in waves. She felt heat course through her body, and pain shot from her side as she groaned. "Maybe I should sit down." She said to herself.

She walked down the steps and sat on a nearby bench, waiting for the vertigo and throbbing in her side to pass. While she sat in the twilight of the blazing red sunset and the gusting wind, the objective of trying to figure out what was going on became the forerunner of her marathon of thoughts, even ahead of finding Greg, for the moment.

"_What is going on?" _Sara thought miserably, _"How did that old lady know about my search, about Greg's riddle? was he here? And how come she seemed to know that Greg is not dead?"_

"_She's old, probably senile. Maybe she's oblivious to what's really going on?"_

"_I don't think so. She seemed to be legit to me."_

"_That's because you're desperate. You're so eager to find something that will lead you to Greg that you'll take anything you can get."_

Sara wondered vaguely when she had become so into arguing with herself in her head.

"_No. Well, maybe, but that's beside the point. Why is it that nothing seems right?"_

The feeling that nothing was normal had stuck with Sara for the longest time. It made her paranoid, and it made her do something she hadn't done in a long time. It made her question herself, and she hated the self-doubt she had attained since that fateful day over a week ago. At the grocery store…even though it was an everyday thing, nothing seemed like it usually did. At he house, nothing felt like home. The everyday world she had come to know, the niche she had fit into, didn't fit to anymore.

It was all because of Greg. He was the biggest shred of normalcy in her life.

She needed to find him now. She needed him back in her life so she could get her life back. She needed to get to the lab…something inside her was screaming at her to go to the lab. Sara stood up, but as soon as she did, the dizziness came back, and stinging went up through her side. The space in front of her wavered and turned white for a second. She groaned again, but she walked the little way to her car to sit down again. Being here was too much. She needed to go home and go to the lab tomorrow. She just couldn't face it tonight. She started to drive.

"_The sooner you go and get the search out of the way, the sooner this can end." _Voiced emotional Sara.

"_Yeah, because he probably won't be there." _Said logical Sara.

"_That may be, but I have a good feeling; all our problems will end there."_

"_That could mean a million things! You could get hit by a car on the way there, and then you would be with Greg if he's dead…"_

Sara parked in her driveway, the drive going by much more quickly than she had expected, and her heart started to pound. She seemed to be aware of the blood coursing through her vessels, the thumping of her heart as an idea passed through her head. The idea itself wasn't terrifying, but the fact she was thinking it…and considering going through with it.

"_If I can't be with Greg in this world…"_

"NO!" Sara screamed to herself in her car, as two passers by looked at her like she was crazy. She was staring off into space again, but the adrenaline coursing through her body, causing her to breathe faster and harder brought her into reality. "What am I thinking?" She whispered to herself.

She was terrified now. In all her years of struggle, she had never thought of that. She thought of anyone who took their own life to be a coward, a horrible selfish person, and she vowed never to do what they had done. But now, she slowly felt her resolve slipping...

In silence then, she walked up to her apartment, and walked straight in to her bedroom. She didn't even bother to take off her clothes. She just mechanically reached in to her bedside drawer and grabbed her merciful friend. The bottle of sleeping pills jingled as she tipped out two pills in to her hand. She looked at them, considering them, like they were something new to her.

She popped the two pills, and dry swallowed them. Seconds passed into minutes, but nothing seemed to happen. She felt nothing. She looked at the bottle on the table beside her, and a feeling she had never felt before stole over her. _"Take more, it will help you sleep better. Take them, maybe you'll spend see him again…take them…"_

"Am I…addicted to sl-sleeping pills?" Sara spoke quietly to the walls, her voice shrill with fear. It was the one thing she never wanted to become. However, like she was under a spell of a monster, she dumped out another pill and swallowed it as well, thinking no more of it than if it was rat poison.

As she felt her eyelids close automatically, the imaginary voice of the pills spoke to her again. _"No," _It assured her as all around her faded away and she entered the familiarity of sleep.

* * *


	7. Never Be Ready

**A/N: Okay, wow! I'm a bit faster with this chapter, so awesome! Haha, so, nothing to report on the home front, except the first tornados EVER reported for this province...thats a bit scary! Makes me wish global warming was a conspiracy, not a real threat that, seemingly, very little people do anything about! (Yeah, I'm a save the Earth supporter...save the trees!) Anyways, here's the new chapter...NOT on paper;) As always, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 7: NEVER BE READY**

As she looked around, Sara felt elation course through her body. She recognized the symptoms of another dream, lifelike in her sight and sound, yet so false as she tried to interact. Her touch rendered her paradise of dreams to nothing more than what it truly was; a figment of her drug-induced subconscious. But she didn't really give a damn. She wanted to be here more than the wanted to be in her reality.

And the reason was painfully obvious, and standing in front of her.

His deep brown eyes. His curly dirty-blonde hair. Each and every mark upon his face was the same as it was in memory. Greg Sanders, whom she had been searching for in her waking moments, was right here, standing in front of her, watching her moves with a careful look. The same look held in his eyes was also present; the look he had reserved for only her, a reverence that made her feel like a queen. Yet, concern also etched itself upon the lines of his face.

"Sara."

His voice was not his. It scared her, not because it was meant to. His voice was quiet, and held an edge of fatigue and fear. His face also looked tired, as if he had not slept in days.

"Greg." Sara replied, completely at a loss for any other words. She did not know why his voice would sound so unusual.

"I nearly lost you."

"Excuse me?" Sara asked. She had no idea what he was talking about. There was that incident with the truck, but he would have mentioned it before now. Could he be talking about the pills…how could he have known? "What are you talking about?"

"Sara, you cannot die on me. You can't give up on me yet. You need to keep on trying to find me." Greg was scaring her now. His voice was high with fright, and she saw his eyes swimming with tears. He walked closer to where she was standing. "You can't even think about giving up now. Not after all we've been through."

He did know what she had been thinking about with the sleeping pills. How could that be?

He seemed to read her mind. "Yvonne told me when I came back."

"You were back at your place, and I missed you?" Sara asked, and then added, "Who's Yvonne?"

"Oh, Yvonne works there. She's really nice, been keeping me company, along with the gang."

"_She must be the landlady or something." _"Then where have you been to?" Sara said, flustered, "I've seen Yvonne, but not you. You weren't at your home."

"I haven't been home in nearly a week, Sara." Greg said, more quietly now. "I've been waiting for you to come back to me. It's been hard, I can hardly sleep or eat knowing I may never see you again." He grimaced, and added, "I regret it every second that I never tried to do more to get closer with you."

Sara sniffed, her determination not to cry dissolving watching the man before her pour his heart and soul to her. "Greg, I'm so lost!" She cried despairingly, "I never knew how much you meant to me before, and you think you regret it?" She flung herself into his chest, wrapping her arms about his waist and hugging in to him with all the strength she had, afraid to let go. "It's been my fault that I've turned you down all those times, my fault that we may never see each other again, and my fault that I was so damn _blind_ that I never realized what you meant to me!"

The stayed like that for a long time, or a short time, Sara did not know or care. All she cared to know was that it was in Greg's arms she stood, and it was Greg's hand gliding across her back that sent chills down her spine. It was Greg's scent she smelled as her head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck, and Greg's voice that made her want to do back flips.

Why had she not even noticed any of these telltale signs of love before, when now they were so obvious?

Hesitatingly, Sara pulled away from him, but let him hold one of her hands with both of his. They remained silent for a little while, just staring at each other, taking in the sight of each other's face. Sara finally broke the ice with a sigh. "So, Nick, Warrick, Cath and Griss have seen you too, then?"

Greg looked away. "Yeah, they've been keeping me company."

"So," Sara continued, still on a constant vigil to figure out his riddle, "Almost everyone has seen you, except me?"

"Pretty much."

"Have you been at the lab?"

Greg looked at her. "Well, only once, just to get used to the place again. Remember what got us in this mess? I was shot too."

Sara's mouth shot open. She had forgotten all about what had even put them in this situation. The both of them had been shot at a crime scene, and that man had been hiding in the bathroom, waiting for a way out. Bitterly, she thought, _"Why was it Greg who got the fatal blow? Why not me?"_

"Right." Sara said, sighing again. "But, then, why haven't we been able to meet? Surely we would have been able to see each other?"

"I've seen you every day since the accident."

Sara looked at Greg, her eyes wide and jaw dropped. "…What?" She said incredulously. "What? You mean to tell me you've been able to see me _every day _and you haven't come up to me to tell me you're there, healthy, and…alive?" The last of her angry words came out as a whisper, for she did not want to think of Greg as dead. The knowledge that he was not in the same world as her anymore would ultimately, she thought, be her own demise as well.

Greg shook his head, as sombre as ever. "It's not that simple. You're the one who's in trouble; it's not up to me what you do. It's up to you to find me Sara, it's your responsibility to get in to the world where we can be together."

"I have no choice." Sara said, her voice so low she had to wonder if Greg could hear her. "I've found out how it is to live without you Greg, and it's not a world I can ever function in. I'm an outcast, a lost sheep in a flock. I need you to make me feel like I'm a part of something. So that's it." She said, her voice thick with concealed tears, "I've got to find you, one way or another."

Greg smiled then. "Attagirl, Sara." Then, he added in a whisper, as he brought his lips close to her ear, his breath hot and damp on her neck creating a tingling sensation, "Because if you didn't search for me, I'd never be able to live either."

He lifted his face away again, to look at her fully. Sara closed her eyes, relishing his touch, his voice…everything about him. The voice of the drugs only she could hear, they were right after all. The sleeping pills were the drug, sure, but Greg was the high to which she was addicted, a sweet compulsion that had come to slowly take over her, body and soul, so that thoughts of him had invaded every aspect of her life. She needed him more than anything else in the world.

And that scared her like nothing ever before.

"I wouldn't be able to go on without you either." She said, still looking him straight in the eye. "Can you ever forgive me? For never realizing…you know…_us, _before?"

Sara was shocked that she was saying these words, yet never regretted saying them. Sara usually never regretted telling the truth.

A smile spread across his face, a kilowatt smile that lit up his face and made him seem as young as a teenager again. Oh, how she had missed that smile! All the weight of the world seemed to lift off her shoulders at the sight, and despite everything she was going through, she felt her lips twitch in to a smile. She had forgotten how to smile while Greg wasn't around.

"On one condition." Greg said, still smiling. Sara looked at him, goading him to continue. "You never give up, and you find me. Okay?"

Sara smiled brightly. "Agreed."

Greg gave a light chuckle, and to Sara's dismay, backed away a little. However, he did not go any further than a foot away before kneeling down. She gave him a sceptical look; the tensions having died away for now. They knew they had to spend one more time together before once more they were separated, waiting for a time when they would be united again. Whenever Sara figured out his riddles…

"May I have this dance?"

Sara's smile faltered a bit, as she gave him an amused expression. "D-dance?" Then she looked about. In the conversation and questions that had arisen between Greg and her as she had landed in her dreams, she hadn't taken the time to look at her surroundings. Once again, she was amazed.

Sara and Greg were right in the middle of a circular room, completely dark save for faint beams of light that entered through the ceiling, completely composed of glass. The moonbeams and starlight lit the floor in such a magical way that a disco ball or chandelier could never do. The floor was empty except for the two lone occupants, and music could be heard, coming from what, Sara could not guess.

She felt like a princess and, Sara admitted to herself, she didn't mind calling it that, because this, being in this moment with Greg, even if only in her dreams, was the best she had ever felt in her life.

In reply to Greg's questions, Sara said nothing, but simply laid her hand in his proffered one, allowing him to lead her to the middle of the floor. He tentatively positioned his hands on her hips, but she only connected her hands on the back of his neck, and leaned in to him, not refuting but approving his touch on her. She leaned her head on his chest, feeling the throb of his heartbeat and the rise and fall of his chest as his lungs took in air. Her nose was filled with his intoxicating scent, and she closed her eyes, allowing his chin to rest comfortably on top of her hair. It was in this moment, allowing Greg to lead her in a slow circle while they took comfort in each other, letting the soothing sounds become background noise that she began to think once more.

"_The more I seem to find out, the further I seem to be from finding Greg."_

"_Well, that may be just how it seems…you may be closer than you ever thought possible."_

"_But nothing makes sense! I mean it's only me that hasn't been able to find him…everyone else has. What does that mean?"_

"_It means that you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. You just need to go to a place and stay there, someplace that you know he'll be."_

Sara smiled to herself. The music had hit its crescendo and Greg held on to her a little more tightly, and she was vaguely aware that Greg's thumb was creating haphazard circles on her back. _"Well, that's easy. Greg's home away from home is my home away from home."_

The music had slowed once more, finishing as Greg dropped her in a little dip, and brought her back up to his level. Sara looked in to his eyes, and saw that same love that she felt for him. She looked longingly at his lips, and the compulsion overcame the knowledge of what may happen and she brought her own lips to his as she closed her eyes.

But they did not touch.

She opened her eyes, and Greg was gone. No one held her close, drew circles on her back, talked to her. Nothing was left but the moonbeams and starlight. Not even music could be heard. And soon enough, her world returned to one of familiar static, a sign that the pills were wearing off, having done their job.

Sara never sobbed or wailed, yet she knew that tears travelled down her pale cheeks. She had been ready for the dream to end. They always did. She had been ready for the paradise to fade to white before her eyes as she woke up.

No, it was none of these things that had made Sara Sidle shed these tears. It was the fact she hadn't been ready to say goodbye. She would never be ready for that.

* * *


	8. Familiarity Lost

**CHAPTER 8: FAMILIARITY LOST**

When Sara awoke, two things were obvious. Number one, she felt the familiar torture of heartache, a pain that coursed through her body, yet was strongest in her chest, and amplified with her pulse. The second, she _might _have taken one too many pills, because her stomach was churning like the clothes in a washer cycle. She never knew anything before the urge overcame her and she bolted, somewhat dizzily, from her bedroom and into her bathroom. She threw up, but her past few days of no eating and pill overdosing took their toll; she threw up nothing but bile. After she had stopped urging, she just kneeled on the floor, a wet washcloth on her face dabbing errant beads of sweat. It was only as she struggled to regain her breath that she started to realize what she had become.

_"What am I doing?" _She thought incredulously of herself, _"Not eating, not sleeping properly, popping pills like candy and my only thoughts of are a missing man in my dreams? How have I let myself fall so far?"_

_"Greg, stupid." _The other side of her rationality cut in. _"Maybe you really do care about him as much as he always appeared to care about you. Ever think of that?"_

_"…Maybe…I do?"_

Lost in her own conversation, Sara barely realized that her cell phone was ringing from inside her bedroom. Standing up, she steadied herself as her stomach dropped like lead and her head drifted in lightheadedness. She staggered into the wall, and shaking her head in an attempt to free herself of the side effects of either no food, or too many drugs, or a combination of both, she made her way shakily in to her room.

Sara never bothered to answer the phone, though by the way the sky was an impenetrable wall of darkness, with not even a star or the moon to pierce the night, she wondered who the hell calls at this unseemly time of night.

"H'lo?" Sara answered, a bit groggily. The sound of her voice surprised herself. She usually sounded so sure, but now…

_"Sara?" _That Texan drawl could have only come from Nick. _"Sara, are you okay? Where the hell are you, no one is answering your house phone."_

"Oh, I'm home…why are you calling me?" Sara asked, her brain not yet registering why Nick had called in the first place. It was otherwise occupied with another agenda. "Never mind…Nick, I got to ask you a question. It's about Gr…"

Nick growled a bit from the other end, though the concern he felt for her was apparent. _"Sara, did you sleep in, or forget, or something? You're supposed to report for your first day back to work tonight, and you're already an hour late."_

"What?!" Sara exclaimed into the phone, receiving a cry of surprise from the other line. Sara rushed to the clock on her bedside table. It read _12:56_. She was late. The Sara Sidle, workaholic extraordinaire, never-late-in-her-life Sara Sidle was running behind by an hour. This great shock was enough to even knock her thoughts of Greg back a bit. Well, at least brush them aside momentarily. "Okay, um, Nick? I'm running a bit late, tell Grissom I'll be in shortly, traffic pending. And tell him I need to ask you guys something."

_"Okay, will do." _Nick said, as he clicked the phone shut.

Sara clicked her phone closed as well, and proceeded to get dressed, and get ready for work in the fastest time she had ever done so. She rushed to get ready, but she hesitated by her bedside table. She looked upon the sleeping pills, laying innocently on the table, and scooped the bottle in to her jacket pocket. Despite this hesitation and even her sore and bandaged side, nothing interfered with her being out of her apartment and in to her car by _1:03_. Sure, she had skipped another meal, missed another chance to clean her apartment and to grab a drink, but all that wasn't important. Now that she was on her way, she felt the familiar sensation of adrenaline invade her body. Now was a make or break chance. Greg had mentioned that he had seen everyone else. Now she could ask them about Greg, and maybe earn another clue. Maybe he would already be there!

With these hopeful thoughts in mind, she sped as fast as she dare towards the Crime Lab, thinking of what she would finally say when she found Greg, and she told him how she felt about him.

When she entered the familiar doors of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, a rush of familiarity hit her. Everything seemed normal; as if nothing had happened at all. All the techs were scurrying about running tests and delivering results, CSI's were walking in pairs discussing their findings and police officers were escorting convicts to their respective rooms.

"Home sweet home." Sara said softly. She took a deep breath, despite her injured side, and walked up to the main desk where Judy Tremont, the secretary, was busy taking calls and writing notes and sorting letters. "Hey Judy."

Not even realizing Sara had approached her, Judy gave a little squeal and jumped, sending papers flying everywhere. She adjusted her glasses, and returned Sara's smile with one of her own. "Oh, Sara! Welcome back! How are you doing?"

"Um…I'm doing okay." Sara replied. Judy gave her a look, sizing her up, not seeming entirely convinced of Sara's answer. Sara wasn't even entirely convinced she had told the truth. But the pause gave Sara the chance she needed to ask the question weighing on her mind. "Judy, where is Grissom and everyone else from Graveyard?"

"Oh!" She squeaked. She shuffled her papers about until she hauled out a tiny sticky note. "Mr. Grissom said you had to meet him at his office as soon as you got in. You better get going."

"Thanks…thanks Judy." Sara said as she started off towards the familiar office of her supervisor. She hadn't seen Grissom, or any of her coworkers, in a long while…even though she missed Greg, and was worried sick over his welfare, she felt happy at finally seeing her friends. Though in a way it was bittersweet; in all the time she was at home, no one had visited her. Catherine was the last one she saw, and she only dropped her off and sped off again. Why hadn't they visited her?

"Come in." A voice emanated from the open door she had just arrived at. The familiar silhouette of her boss was visible from the dim blue lights that hung above them. Shelves upon shelves of books and insects lined the office giving it a decrepit look, but the new floor, desk and walls gave it a modern air. And staring across the desk, covered still in more insects, at her was the unreadable steely gaze of Gil Grissom. His next words were, as always, short and to the point. "You're late."

"I know, Grissom, I know, but I was just shot, give me a break." Sara said, trying to explain herself. "I was just finally having a good sleep, I've been really, _really _stressed, because of…"

"You don't need to explain to me." Grissom said, cutting her off mid-sentence. Sara stopped, the last word curling back on her tongue. "Here." He took up a stack of folders from the floor, and dropped them with a heavy thud on the desk. "Here's your assignment for the day, just to get you in to the swing of things again."

Sara gave him a ticked off look, and walked forward. "Cold cases, Grissom?"

"Cold cases." He confirmed, his face registering nothing. "Enjoy Sara….now I'm off to a scene, Nick's waiting for me."

Grissom got up and brushed past her, and Sara only just got to speak. "Wait!" He stopped at the door, and his look told her to get on with what she was going to ask him. "Grissom, I-I've got a really big question to ask you."

Grissom sighed. "Can it wait Sara? My scene won't stay pristine forever."

"Well," Sara began, thinking of her question. Maybe it could wait…no. It couldn't. "Grissom, where's Greg too? I haven't seen…him…what's wrong?"

Sara had watched Grissom's face go stony at the mention of Greg's name. It was the first time he had shown any emotion in front of her since she had come in. This was a face of great emotion. It made her heart plummet. "Sara…we'll talk about this when I get back. Everyone will. Until then, look over those cold cases."

Too scared to even respond with words, Sara just nodded. Grissom turned away, but Sara still held her breath. That was the most emotion Grissom had ever shown. That stony glare had given her chills of fright. That face could not mean anything good. Something about Greg…

_"Maybe they had a spat." _Sara assured herself, though she knew how unlikely this was. _"Grissom was always a little hard on Greg." _She sat down at Grissom's desk, though she knew that he probably didn't want her working there, and started flipping through the folders.

Her mind was not on her job at all, not at all Sara-like. Her usually exciting job (for her, anyways) was dripping with tedium, and she found herself drifting off to a land of fantasies like a bored schoolgirl. Even in dreams of day, when she never even slept, Greg pervaded. This went on for longer than Sara could remember until she heard Grissom open the door. He entered, and upon sighting her, stopped short. They stared at each other, each trying to figure out what the other one was thinking, until he spoke. "Sara? Is there any reason why you're still I my office?"

"I wouldn't want you running off." Sara said haughtily. She had enough games. "Get everyone else. I need to talk to them and you."

"My thoughts exactly." Grissom replied.

"What?" Sara said, caught by surprise. "Really?"

"Yes." Sara narrowed her eyes at Grissom. Once again, his gaze as inscrutable. "We really need to talk with you. Follow me."

Like an obedient puppy, Sara sat up, a little too quickly because she swayed a bit on the spot, and followed Grissom out of his office. Sara felt the gnawing sensation in her stomach, and her mouth and lips were reminiscent of the desert they were surrounded by, but she needed to know. If Greg wasn't to be found here, she would keep letting herself fall in health.

The never had far to travel, and before she knew it they had arrived in the cushy break room. Or, at least as cushy as you could get for a Crime Lab. When Grissom moved to one side and Sara could finally peer inside, she was met by everyone staring at her with concern (the exception being Grissom, who merely sized her up thoughtfully.). "Sara." It was Nick who started. "You said you needed to talk."

Sara smiled faintly. Finally, she would get the answers she sought. "Yes, I do. I'm…confused, about what happened that night when I-we, got shot." The whole room of faces got downcast. Sara never addressed that fact. "I mean, what I'm trying to say is…where's Greg?"

No one answered her at first. Not a soul seemed to stir, no one breathed. It was the kind of silence that deafened ears more than jets and jackhammers. "Sara…" Nick began, but her name was about all he could mutter.

Grissom finished his sentence. "Sara, I thought we told you back in the hospital. Greg…" Grissom seemed to hesitate saying his name as well. "Greg is dead. He threw himself in front of you when that man came, and the bullet, while striking you, went through him. He never survived." He sighed, watching Sara's face turn horror-stricken and confused. "Perhaps it's our fault. We told you too soon after waking up, and with the drugs…"

"No." Sara said. She heard his every word, but none of it registered. "No way, this can't be. Greg…he was…speaking to me. He said you'd all seen him, and that I need to find him in order for us to be in the same world again…"

Silence once again ensued. No one knew what to say. "Sara," Nick began cautiously as he approached her, attempting to embrace her, "Come here sweetie…"

"NO!" She screamed as she backed away from Nick's arms, and his hurt face. "Just…all of you, get away from me, I'm not crazy! I know what he said, he's alive, and I need to find him…you all saw him and you know where I can find him. Tell me this instance!"

Warrick growled in sad frustration, and Nick backed up towards the others, at a complete loss of what to do. Catherine looked at Grissom, who nodded at her. "Sara," she began slowly, "We…may have seen him…"

"Finally, someone telling the truth!" Sara said, looking at Catherine. "Where too?"

"We can take you, if you…"

"No." Sara said curtly. "I want to do this alone." Quietly, she added, "I have to."

Catherine took another furtive, reassuring glance at Grissom, and reached in to her back pants pocket for a notepad and pen. "Well, here's the address. Now, you may be surprised at what you find, so…"

"Guys, thank you, but no more. I don't have time. I need…NEED…to find him now." She said this as she turned on her heel and headed out the door, leaving the others in shock.

"Gil, this is insane…she…she's gone mental! She thinks he's alive." Catherine said, looking at Grissom who stared after her. "We need to go after her, make sure she doesn't do anything rash."

"We can't…just leave her. She needs to find out for herself." Grissom said slowly.

Sara was already in her car, after running as fast as she could out of the lab and on her way to the address, which wasn't far at all from where she was. Only five minutes of excitement coursing through her body and she was at her destination. She got out of her car, but her face clouded over when she saw where she was. Iron bars surrounded a large field as she walked under the foreboding gate with, _"Las Vegas Cemetary"_, written across the top.

* * *

**Okay, I plead the fifth ammendment...I'm so sorry for keeping everyone waiting, but my computer died...horribly...I still don't have it...I had to write this thing twice...so here it is...physics class cannot wait! Here it is...sorry for mistakes!**


	9. Wake Up Living

**A/N: Hey everyone...my precious is back! My computer is finally back where she belongs! That means...drum roll UPDATES!!! Though there isn't much left...this is where it's all resolved;) So I hope you like my ending, though expect an epilogue very soon. And a shout out to Kalan Porter...the chapter name is the name of his new album. Check out his new single, "Down In Heaven". It's awesome...(in my opinion.) Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 9: WAKE UP LIVING**

"What is this?" Sara whispered as she looked at the hills covered in graves and stone monuments. She stood completely still, paralyzed by what she saw, and what it meant. A graveyard…why would Greg be here alive? Why would Greg be here at all?

A cold wind blew Sara's ebony hair from in front of her face to the side. Grey clouds were hanging above Las Vegas, threatening a storm. She knew the answer now. She knew why no one had seen him after all. He was here, but not alive.

"I've been chasing a dream…" A wave of dread crashed over Sara like a tidal wave. Her whole body went numb. Greg was gone, and she could finally believe it. It was the worst Sara had ever felt in her existence. "He's really gone."

And in a desperate impulse, she reached in to her jacket pocket and grasped the familiar cylindrical bottle of sleeping pills. Her only hope of salvation. Greg was gone, and Sara knew she could not live her life like this. She just wasn't ready, she hadn't come to terms with it, and it wasn't his time. She had always believed that when you died, it was your time, and nothing could change it. It wasn't Greg's time. Something had seriously messed up with the way things worked. Her friends thought she was crazy; she was alone in the world. She needed to go to a place where she would be free of the pain she was feeling. She had no other alternative. Before she would, or could, come to terms with Greg's death, she would be driven insane. And her mind was the only thing Sara had left to hold on to. If she did lose her mind, then there really would be no point in living.

Sara shook her hand full of pills until none were left in the bottle, and whimpered. She couldn't do it. Not all of them. She poured only a few back, but downed the rest, gagging only because there were so many. She wasn't afraid of death, if it came. Not anymore. It was her time now. To find Greg. Greg…

Sara started walking through the lines of graves, not really caring where it brought her. She knew it would end soon enough. Maybe she could save her so called, 'friends,' the trouble of finding her a grave if she could find one for herself, maybe one next to Greg's.

She soon found the newest grave sites, where the gravel was still either only developing new green sprouts, or still barren with only a bouquet of withering roses lying upon it. Tears started to leak from her eyes as she felt her eyelids and limbs start to grow heavy. Her heart beat wildly in her chest, and she was struggling to walk. She was breathing so fast…was this what an overdose really felt like? Still, she carried on, not really knowing if she would make it to where she wanted to go, until she looked up.

She was at the end of the new graves, and a gaping hole in the dirt stared at her, the darkness warm and inviting. The tendrils of shadows were calling to her, wishing she would jump in and enjoy the eternal night that waited for her. But she couldn't yet. A wooden sign was sitting at the front of the grave where a headstone would normally be. Sara was compelled by an unknown force to read it. She edged between the gravel mound on one side and the crevice on the other until she could see the worn painted letters of the sign

"**Reserved for Sara Sidle"**

"What?!" Sara exclaimed, her mind reeling. "How can that…" before she could finish her sentence, she started coughing violently, her stomach heaving. She fell to the ground as a wave of nausea and pain drove through her like a knife, and she rolled on her back trying to breathe as a crack of thunder seemed to rip the clouds open, and a torrent of rain started pouring from the heavens. Sara groaned as she struggled to stay awake. She tried to roll over, to avoid the rain and keep it from drowning her where she lie, but her strength was gone. All she could do was lay there and let the darkness take her, though she grasped to the thoughts pf the sign. She knew it was important, if she lived to think of it again.

"_What…does…it all mean?"_

* * *

"Sara…" A broken voice cried. That voice…so familiar, comforting, yet pitiable. Sara knew that voice. Though she felt like a wreck, she was almost glad for it. She was alive, for now. A little bit of time bought for her to figure out the last riddle of the sign. Then, if that didn't fix her problems, she could die, and prefer it over death. 

She couldn't see, couldn't move…she needed more rest, maybe. Then she would remember. For now she would listen to the man's voice that called out to her.

"Sara…please come back to me. I need you back. You've made it so far, and when you nearly died just then? I couldn't take it. I'm just so glad you pulled through again. You can get back to me. You're a fighter, you'd never give up. Please listen to me, Sar-bear, if you can hear me. I've never, ever told you this, but I love you with all the love I can give. If you just come back…"

It was Greg's voice. Sara opened her eyes, but this dream was not the same. She was looking at Greg…and herself! Greg was kneeling on the ground next to her body, which was lying completely still. Greg was holding the pale hand with his own, stroking it. She couldn't feel his touch. It was like an out-of body experience, literally. They were kneeling on nothing…everything seemed to be floating on a cloud of swirling grey nothingness. It scared her. "Greg, I'm here! I know what to do now…I couldn't find you, so I had to join you in death. That was what you meant, right? All this time you were trying to tell me that?"

However, he just kept talking to her body, not even acknowledging her.

"You can't die on me. You need to wake yourself up, because I need to see your big beautiful brown eyes open, hear you speak. I need to see you alive."

Sara's eyes widened. "I tried that already!" She screamed. "I tried to find you, but everything seemed to contradict everything else! You were dead in reality, and alive in my dreams. Tell me what to do, please!"

Once again Greg seemed to ignore her. "They've got your grave dug, you know. You were always the rebellion, Sara. Show them wrong. Show them you're tougher than anything. Show them you can survive! Do it for yourself…do it for me. Because quite honestly, I need you. I'm going insane not knowing if I'm ever going to see you again."

"What's wrong with you?" Sara said, tears streaking down her face, but her composure calm again. "My grave is dug? Show them I'm tough?"

"_There's no way he could possibly mean that I'm the one in danger? I know he isn't talking about the pills…he was the one who died from the attack. My gun shot wasn't very serious, was it? He's been acting like this ever since I started having these recurring dreams."_

"_So pretend. Pretend that everything he says is gospel truth, and think. You're the one dying. You're the one in danger. And you need to find him. A grave waits for you if you give up. What does it all mean?"_

And it all fell in to place. That simple change in thinking made all the sense in the world, and Sara finally understood what was happening, though it still shocked her. "All this time, I have been dreaming. All of it was a figment of my mind. That's why nothing seemed right. That's why no one visited me, why no one seemed to care. It wasn't real. When I dreamed of Greg, and I heard his voice telling me all of those things that didn't really make sense at the time, it must've been me almost waking up, and I heard his actual voice. It was actually Greg telling me to wake up, to come back to the real world of the living!"

"Sara." She looked down at him, and her heart went out to him. All this time he was at her side, trying to lead her home. She smiled as she looked upon his face. His eyes were drooping now, and he was wavering. He, too, seemed to be entering a land of sleep and dreams. When he woke up next, she swore to herself she would be awake with him. "Please…" he yawned, "wake up, soon…"

Sara smiled, and she felt her stomach flip a bit as she started to feel herself sink lower, towards Greg and her body. She turned on to her back, and she seemed to meld with her body until they were in the exact place, where they belonged as one entity. Everything would be all right now, she was sure of it. She too closed her eyes, not afraid of what would happen. She was looking forward to waking up now.

She could finally feel his hand on hers.

* * *

When Sara woke up again, she still felt exhausted. However, it couldn't keep her curiosity down. She needed to know if she had been right, or if she was just stuck in a world without Greg. But somehow she knew that she was right. She could still feel his hand on hers. Slowly, she her eyelids fluttered, and her eyes were open, and despite where she was, she smiled. The same damn white walls surrounded her, and she saw all the hospital equipment. She was in a room by herself, with no other patients, which she was thankful for. Even if she was an inch near death, she preferred privacy. No one else seemed to be in the room… 

"…Sara? Are you awake, Sara?"

She turned over and saw Greg's face, peering at her like she was a fragile glass artifact. She could see the utter relief on his face seeing her awake. She smiled. "I found you."

Before she could say another syllable, Greg had hopped out of the bedside chair and started whooping in sheer delight. He poked his head out of the room and screamed, "Sara's awake everyone!" Then he came back in and jumped on the bed, nearly crushing Sara and grabbed her up in a giant bear hug.

"Urgh…nice to…see you too, Greggo." She wheezed, though she reciprocated the hug lightly.

"Don't _ever _do that to me again, Sara." Greg whispered passionately in her ear.

"Don't you mean, 'Sar-bear,' Greg?" Sara laughed lightly. However, it was just then she realized how much he really meant it, how much he had scared her. She felt the tears hit her shoulder, and she felt his body tremble with half-hidden sobs. Sara softened. "I missed you too Greg. You really don't know how much you really mean to me."

"Sara!" Came a myriad of voices from the doorway. Slowly, Greg and Sara let go of each other and Sara saw everyone pile in to the room to each give her a hug, or in Nick's case a giant bear hug reminiscent of Greg's and a sweet kiss on the cheek. Though it wasn't as relieving as seeing Greg was, Sara was elated to see her friends, to know they cared.

"Don't scare us like that again, okay hon?" Nick said amiably, after a few trivial minutes of just wishing her a 'welcome back'. "We were all worried sick."

Sara gave an ask-for-forgiveness look, but then sighed. "I'm so confused about what happened. On that night, I just can't remember."

"Well, if you remember, I was out on the scene, along with you and Greg. I was processing the body with David, and you went upstairs with Greg." Nick gestured to Greg, who remained next to Sara on the bed, silent. "Then, Greg said you went to the master bedroom to process while Greg processed another room. After he was finished, he went to see how you were doing, and when you were about to leave, you were attacked by the suspect, who was hiding in the ceiling. There was an entrance to an attic we didn't know about before."

"So _that's _where the bastard was hiding." Sara said. "I remember that much now, but after that I don't remember a thing."

"Well, after I heard shots, I ran upstairs to see what was happening, and I saw all three of you; you, Greg and the suspect, on the floor and not moving." Sara shuddered. "Everyone was rushed to the hospital, and no one knew what the hell had happened until Greg came out of surgery."

Greg lifted his shirt up, revealing two bandages; one on the front of his left abdomen, one on the back. "When that guy jumped out with a gun, I jumped in front of you, Sara, with my gun to try and stop him." Greg started quietly. "But even though I did, he still managed to get to you. After he shot, I shot too. I killed him with the first and only shot I fired. The bullet he fired, I don't know how, went right through me and in to you. It never hit anything important in me, but it hit a major artery in you, and you've been out ever since."

"Which has been about a week." Grissom concluded. Sara muttered something about déjà vu when Grissom spoke again, to Greg. "Don't beat yourself over it. If you hadn't slowed the bullet, Sara would have been shot in one of her major organs, and she would not have made it." Then, he addressed Sara. "It's been touch and go, and we've had our own problems with Greg."

"Meaning…?" Sara pressed, looking at Greg who was starting to turn red.

"Even after the first day of surgery for himself, he would not leave your side. He went to the lab yesterday for an hour after we coaxed him…"

"Yeah, more like dragged." Warrick cut in with a grin.

"_Coaxed _him, but an hour after that he came straight back here. He hasn't eaten, slept, or left your side yet, even to take a shower."

Sara gave a wide grin, and looked over to Greg who has turned away completely, though she could still see the traces of red on his neck and jaw.

The conversation waned to simple questions and answers until Sara yawned. Catherine saw, and looked around to everyone else. "Come on everyone, we've been here long enough. We'll let Sara rest now, she needs to recover." She went to hug Sara again, and bent near to Greg and her face distorted. "You really do need to shower, or at least change that shirt."

"Gee, thanks Catherine." Greg retorted, though lifting his arms and also twisting his face. Sara grinned as she hugged the others (once again save for Grissom, the man of hidden emotion) and wished them off. Greg was the last one she hugged, and she prolonged it. She looked in to his face when the broke the embrace, and she saw those eyes of deepest brown, and she knew that the light she saw in them reflected her own whenever she saw him.

"'Bye Sar-bear." Greg said quietly. "Hope you get some rest." He headed towards the door, shuffling his feet as he went.

"Wait." He stopped at the door and turned around at Sara's request. "Greg, come back, please?"

Greg looked at her curiously. "Sure. What's up?"

"Sit." She gestured to a place on her bed, where he had been the last hour. He took his seat and waited for her to speak again. "First of all, that nick-name of yours, it's not usually my style, but I like it."

"Really?" Greg said, surprised, "'Cause I thought…"

"Secondly," Sara continued, cutting Greg off, "I need to thank you."

Greg really seemed confused. "What for? What did I do besides act pathetic and stay by your bed for nearly a week?"

"Excuse me, Greg, I need to check up on Ms. Sara's condition." An older nurse, who had raven black hair just starting to grey and bright, friendly, cerulean eyes, had just come in.

"Go ahead, Yvonne." Greg said, giving her a grin."

She smiled in return, and started to ask Sara some general, 'how does this feel,' questions, to which Sara could only nod yes, or shake her head no.

Yvonne took her pulse, and then straightened up. "You know, this lad is very fond of you…"

"Aww, Yvonne, _shh_, please?" Greg whined, starting to turn red again.

"Now now, Greg dear," The lady said with a sly wink in his direction. "I'm just letting her know what you think of her." Now she turned to Sara. "I hope you feel better, Sara dear. And I hope you think over some things."

She left the room, leaving the two of them alone again. Greg wiggled his toes on the bed uncomfortably, and he looked up at Sara again. "She's a really nice lady, once you get to…"

"You left a message for me, didn't you? When you were at the lab. You asked her to tell me that I needed to keep searching for you. You were gone, but only for a little while. I remember her saying it. And I remember you saying things, as well. You want to go back to Norway to see where your grandparents grew up."

Greg gaped at her. "You heard me, didn't you? It actually worked?" Now Sara looked at him confusedly. "Let me explain," Greg said. "I once read that speaking to those that you lo-care about can help them wake up. Comas or nightmares, I supposed it didn't matter. So, I talked almost non-stop about everything and anything. I had hoped it would bring you back."

Sara smiled, and tears of joy started to brim at her eyes. "You have no idea Greggo. I would never have held on as long as I did without your words guiding me back. I suffered while in that dream Greg. By the end of it, I was wishing to die, and be rid of the hellhole of a life. The dream I dreamt…it was so lifelike." She yawned again.

"You can tell me later, when you're up to it." Greg said, putting his arm around her shoulder. The warmth from his body made Sara feel contented for the first time in as long as she could remember. "For now, Cath is right. You do need rest. I don't want you relapsing, because honestly, I don't think I could take it if you left me again."

Sara nodded. Though she felt bad for putting off telling him at that instant, he would always be there for her. She would have to tell him later. She laid back, and Greg took the blankets and tucked them in around her. As he leaned back, Sara leaned up and gave his lips a fleeting kiss. "I learned a very important lesson from those dreams, Greg, as bad as they were."

Greg looked at her, taking in all of her appearance. Her hair was a mess, and she wasn't cleaned up, but she was still the girl of his dreams. "And what was that, Sar-bear?"

Sara yawned again, snuggling in to her covers and her pillow and closing her eyes. "I think you already know, Greggo."

* * *


End file.
